It was 7:30 PM on a wet Halloween night, which fell on a Saturday this year. Guaranteeing that extra full moon kind of crazy that comes with the triple wave of kids out trick or treating, teenagers coming next, including all the chaos that comes with them, then the adults being loud and obnoxious later on coming in from clubs and house parties. I was having none of it. I was rolling three good sized joints for the evening and staying in with a newish horror film, then some Milf porn lined up for the evening.
My roommate was out for the night and would be staying at his girlfriend's place tonight. I had purchased a good-sized three-bedroom condo in a four-plex three years ago. It was in a great neighborhood, not suburban, but family orientated. It was the perfect size for the family I wanted to have someday. I knew young that property ownership was a big turn on for single women over thirty. So, at twenty-five I locked in a ground floor in a newly renovated and redone building. All of us moved in within two months of each other. There was a DINK couple next door, a retirement age couple above them and a single woman above me.
I took a roommate as part of my plan to take a more aggressive mortgage and have as much paid off before I settled down as possible. We got along well and he was at his girlfriends a couple of nights a week, so it was a pretty good situation.
I was finishing my supper dishes when I heard loud steps on the front stairs leading to the second floor. Here we go with the teenagers, I thought to myself. It was followed, two minutes later by the same noise coming from the back fire escape stairs. I was just about to go out to spark up anyway, so I grabbed a joint and the lighter and opened the back door. The small, shared back yard area was bathed in bright halogen light from above.
"Felix!... Felix! Come on boy, I don't have time for this tonight. Felix!" My upstairs neighbor Kat's (Kaitlin) cat must have got out. I reached back inside the door and flipped on my porch light.
I called out "Hey, Kat, is everything Okay?" Being a deductive genius, I already knew it wasn't.
"Mike? I'm sorry for all the noise. Felix got out and I didn't notice for a little while." I heard her walk across her balcony to the stairs. I saw the knee-high leather boots start to descend, followed in short order by black translucent tights and a high cut black leotard.
Now, I had known Kat since we moved in the same month, but the mousey mental health worker I knew and the hot as fuck feline pixie that was carefully picking her way down the stairs were definitely not the same person. The skin-tight leotard scooped in front, revealing a lot of chest space between her pert A cup tits, obviously being gravitationally aided by a push up bra. There was a tail swishing back and forth, brushing her firm ass cheeks.
"Wow..." I mumbled out loud just as her face came into view. "Kat?" Even though I had heard her voice, my mind wasn't convinced this was my neighbor. Her make-up was stunning. Black lipstick, heavy eyeliner, her hair slicked back with little cat ears sticking up. I stepped down into the yard towards the bottom of the stairs. When she turned to face me it was evident everything was not okay. Her eyes were just barely holding the tears in.
"I was getting ready for a party, and had done my nails and hair" her voice was wavering. If there is one sense a man is born with it is the ability to tell when a woman is about to absolutely lose it. Kat was there. "I thought the fumes might be too strong for Felix, so I opened the back door for the air and blocked the bottom half with a piece of plywood. He must have jumped over it. I went to do my make up and get dressed, and then I realized... he was gone!" the tears were now starting to fall, her lip was quivering.
"Mike, he's never been out on his own before. He is such a big suck he's never left the balcony" I knew this to be true. I have had many stoned conversations with Felix while we both sat in the sun. Felix was a Maine Coon and clocked in at just under twenty-five pounds. I wanted to see video of him making it over the board.
I also wanted to comfort Kat, but didn't know if pulling her in for a hug would be creepy, so I just put my hands on her upper arms. "It's going to be okay, Kat. We are going to find him. You are sure he's not hiding in the condo somewhere right?"
She nodded through the tears. "Yeah... He's not up there. I checked the other balconies and the yard. Then, I went out front and was calling for him. Oh Mike, there are so many people out tonight. He's afraid of everything, and now he is out there on his own. He has no claws, no skills. What if he is hurt... What if he got hit?" Kat leaned in and snuggled under my arm, with her face against my chest.
I put my index finger under her chin and lifted her face. Her make-up was starting to run, covering her freckle bridge. "Listen, I'm going to go in and get a couple of halogen flash lights and we'll start at the top of the street, checking under all the cars and around yards. Don't worry, we will find him."
"Are you sure you don't have anywhere else to be tonight? I wouldn't be keeping you?" Tears turned to sniffles instantly with a little positive reinforcement.
"Positive. There's nowhere I would rather be than helping a pretty lady on Halloween. I'll be back in a minute."
"Thank you Mike" she started, sniffling "I just know he is so scared right now."
"Don't worry, we will find him." I went inside and grabbed the two flashlights, checking them, and an extra set of batteries for each. I hit the top drawer of my dresser and grabbed a hanky (my grandmother had sent them as part of a graduation gift box and I had never used them. Now I was glad I had one) and stopped at the hall closet to grab my jacket and a hoodie.
When I returned outside, I passed her the handkerchief and held out the hoodie by the shoulders. She half turned and fed one arm into a sleeve, then the other. She turned back around and I bent to zip it up.
